WATCH: Dylan LeBlanc, “Gentle on My Mind”

Artist: Dylan LeBlanc
Hometown: Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Song: “Gentle on My Mind”
Album: Pastimes EP
Release Date: June 18, 2021
Label: ATO Records

In Their Words: “I come from a heavy country music background. My father made his living as a writer for the Nashville Machine growing up. My grandfather in the early ’70s in his early thirties was convinced to make payments on a Gibson guitar on consignment at the local music store along with a songbook with the scales and chords and hit songs of the era inside with directions on how to play them. He loved this song and it was heavily played around the house and passed and sang at gatherings and parties where everyone was drinking and laughing and feeling no pain as they say. I love the story of this song about a drifter roaming from place untethered to anyone or anything therefore making the moment of missing his muse more pure. I can relate as I have naturally always wanted to roam from place to place and be free. I love this song so much and it holds a nostalgic and wonderful place in my heart.” — Dylan LeBlanc


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

BGS 5+5: Bill and the Belles

Artist: Bill and the Belles
Hometown: Johnson City, Tennessee
Latest Album: Happy Again
Personal Nicknames: I renamed myself Spike (inspired by the bulldog with a spiked collar in Heathcliff) in the first grade and all the kids called me Spike for a few months. That was a big win. — Kris Truelsen

My name can be tricky for people (it’s like Kahlúa, but “kuh-LEE-uh”) and nicknames weren’t much of a thing until Game of Thrones came out and Khaleesi happened. — Kalia Yeagle

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

It’s a no brainer: Jimmie Rodgers. He’s been one of our main inspirations for years. His effortless skill in combining the sounds of the blues, jazz, and country will forever be inspiring. My favorite songs from Jimmie are the syrupy love ballads with strings and horns that lean towards being straight pop music of the time like “The Hills of Tennessee” or “Miss the Mississippi and You.” Brilliant stuff. Though I still sing many of his songs, more than ever I use his music as inspiration to break rules and to find the courage to make something unique, not tied to genre or emulating somebody else, but rather trying to be original. — Kris

Jimmie Rodgers was a huge influence on this band. More broadly, that big field of “early country music” (or whatever else you want to call it) is so full of genre-busting sounds and earnest musical experiments. Forming this band, we were very inspired by the folks that used what they had in creative ways, and worked with real fervor. — Kalia

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

A little over six years ago at the opening of the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol, Virginia, we shot the pilot episode of Farm and Fun Time, the PBS television show we host. At sound check I stood at the side of the stage and watched Ralph Stanley sing the entirety of “O Death” in an empty theater. It was literally just me, the sound engineer Josh, and Ralph Stanley in this tiny 100-seat theater. It was absolute magic. — Kris

Similarly, another impactful not-quite-on-stage moment for me was when we shot an audience-less Farm and Fun Time from Kris’s front porch during the pandemic. This was early on enough that folks were still figuring out how to get the most out of livestreams, but late enough that we were all feeling scared about what the pandemic meant for our families and communities, and what it meant for our relationship with live music. Sitting on Kris’s front porch listening to local legend Ed Snodderly sing his songs smacked me good, right in the heart. It had been months since I’d experienced live music, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt so grateful and moved. — Kalia

What other art forms — literature, film, dance, painting, etc. — inform your music?

I’m informed by art that says what it means, and simple, impactful works that don’t feel overwrought. That’s because my head’s a pretty busy place, and I sometimes struggle to distill my thoughts and emotions. I also think that artists can see art everywhere, so yes of course a beautiful piece of writing or gut-wrenching brushstroke can stir up the feels. And so can the chalk drawings neighbor kids make, the way this lampshade shoots light up the wall, or the angles this broom maker created when they gathered the bristles. I’m a pretty emotion-full person, but there have been periods of time when making music was just a motion and not emotion. I’m working on treating music-making more like those little moments of surprising beauty, by staying present and approaching things more playfully. — Kalia

What’s the toughest time you ever had writing a song?

Well, a lot of songs end up in the trash after being reworked to death, but I’m getting better at knowing when to move on and putting less pressure on myself to produce, which inevitably makes the work I do finish stronger. The toughest song I’ve ever written that successfully saw the light of day was probably a jingle I wrote for the regionally beloved soda pop company Dr. Enuf. It’s an herbal, lemon-lime sort of thing like Kentucky’s Ale-8. People in East Tennessee lose their minds for “the Dr.” Not to mention it’s got vitamins. It took me ages to get the jingle honed in just right, but when I did I really nailed it. The hook goes “It’s the lemon-in’, lime-a-nin’, rich in vitamin, original pick me up.” I’ve written over 50 jingles and this one is undoubtedly my favorite. — Kris

If you had to write a mission statement for your career, what would it be?

Write songs that defy boundaries, keep evolving, have faith, and quit working so damn hard all the time. — Kris

Ask, “How is your work serving others? How is it serving you?” And always celebrate growth and abundance. — Kalia


Photo credit: Billie Wheeler

LISTEN: Kyle LaLone, “Learning How to Love”

Artist: Kyle LaLone
Hometown: Watertown, New York; living in Los Angeles
Single: “Learning How to Love”
Album: Looking for the Good
Album Release Date: June 25, 2021

In Their Words: “I wrote this song starting with the title, which is how I begin most songs now. I was thinking about the earliest relationships I had been in and how I would say ‘I love you’ but had no idea what that actually meant. In the last few years I feel like I’ve gotten a better understanding of how to be a good partner, how to really show up for someone in a relationship, and that it is something I will continue to improve on. As for the music, I was going for a classic, sweet-sounding country vibe that I thought would fit well with the tender sentiment of the lyrics. And having Michaela Anne, who is a wonderful singer-songwriter, add those beautiful harmonies was the icing on top of the cake.” — Kyle LaLone


Photo courtesy of Kyle LaLone

LISTEN: Zach Person, “Wanna Fly”

Artist: Zach Person
Hometown: Austin, Texas
Song: “Wanna Fly”
Album: Zach Person
Release Date: April 2, 2021

In Their Words: “2020 was a crazy year for the entire world. All the political and social uproar in countries across the globe inspired me to write ‘Wanna Fly.’ I was listening to an episode of Broken Record (a podcast by Rick Rubin) where he was discussing protest songs, and I got to thinking about what a modern-day ‘Dylan-esque’ protest song would sound like. That thinking inspired much of the lyrics to the tune. I also wanted the song to have that big, open, and spacious feeling that you associate with sounds of the Wild West and open plains of early America. All of these elements blended together to make for a really unique but familiar experience for the listener.” — Zach Person


Photo credit: Christopher Durst

WATCH: The Deep Dark Woods, “How Could I Ever Be Single Again?”

Artist: The Deep Dark Woods
Hometown: Saskatchewan, Canada
Song: “How Could I Ever Be Single Again?”
Album: Changing Faces
Release Date: May 14, 2021
Label: Six Shooter Records

In Their Words: “This song was inspired by the sounds of the English folk band Steeleye Span. I wanted it to have a choppy fiddle sound, similar to the sound of folk musicians in the old days, and Kacy Anderson’s fiddle playing was perfect. Her voice also really adds to the heartache of this song. We wanted the drums to sound like ‘The Hills of Greenmore’ by Steeleye Span, where the chorus hits a heavy downbeat on the one, which really gives the chorus its movement and momentum.” — Ryan Boldt, The Deep Dark Woods


Photo credit: Rima Sater

Allison Russell Gives a Voice to Queer Folks and Survivors on Solo Debut (Part 1 of 2)

Within the songs of her new album Outside Child, Allison Russell delves deeply into the extreme trauma she experienced in her youth spent in Montreal both as a mechanism for personal relief, but also in the hopes that it might reach people with similar experiences.

Although she is a member of multiple bands (including Birds of Chicago and Our Native Daughters) and is an accomplished speaker and poet, the release of Outside Child marks Russell’s first solo work as a recording artist. BGS caught up with our Artist of the Month, Allison Russell, from her home in Nashville.

BGS: This is a deeply personal record. What was your writing process like?

Allison Russell: The writing process was having to delve deeply into the most painful parts of my past and childhood and history. I experienced severe childhood abuse, sexual, physical, mental, and psychological. In many ways, I think the psychological is the toughest part to unpack and defang. I don’t know that I am ever going to be entirely free of that and the process of dealing with that. What was very beautiful about this to me is that I didn’t have to go on that fearsome journey alone. My partner J.T. [Nero] was with me every step of the way. He co-wrote many of the songs on this record with me. He scraped me up off the floor when I was in the depths of it.

I have tried at different times in my songwriting life to tackle some of that material and I did on various songs with my first baby band, Po Girl, but I didn’t have the same kind of support and stability at home that I have now. I didn’t have the same amount of distance in time from the events and trauma of my childhood. Time and distance, plus boundless unconditional love that I receive from my partner, were really healing to have that collaborative sense on these songs. It is tough. It is hard to contemplate pain and trauma. That is reflected in the macrocosm of what is happening in our world right now. We are dealing with it every day with each news story of violence towards communities of color. …

We have to go into the pain of it or it perpetuates. The cycles self-perpetuate if we don’t take a stand to stop them. That’s what I’m trying to do personally. Art builds empathy and connection and it helps stop cycles of abuse when we really listen to one another and see and hear one another. It is a lot more difficult to practice abuse and bigotry. I believe in harm reduction. I don’t think we are going to achieve nirvana in this lifetime, in this world, but I do believe strongly in harm reduction and that small things can create mighty ripples. That’s why telling our own stories in our own words under our own names is so important because it can provide a roadmap for somebody else going through similar experiences.

I wish my story was unique. It is not. One in three women, one in four men, one in two trans or non-binary folks have experienced stories very similar to mine.

In “Persephone,” you sing about a lover in your youth who was seemingly a refuge from the trauma you were living through. It feels like a really loving tribute to her. Is that a story you’ve always wanted to tell?

It has become more important to me as I get older to honor those friends of our youth and loved ones of our youth and lovers of our youth who helped shape us and in this case, she literally saved my life. And I wanted her to know that. I also wanted to acknowledge that I am a queer person who is now in a straight passing life and marriage. I fall in the middle of the spectrum of orientation. I’ve been in love with women and I’ve been in love with men and I’ve been in love with trans people and I’ve been in love with non-binary people. I wound up falling in love and committing to share a life with a man, my husband.

One could assume that I’m straight, but I am not and especially in this time of increased polarization and bigotry, it is really important that people understand that nothing is black and white. Nothing is simple and you can’t assume that because I am married to a man and I have a child that I am a straight person. You can’t say homophobic things to me and have it pass. Part of me wanted to really acknowledge that publicly. I am grateful. I don’t get to be here singing today and having my child and my family if it wasn’t for that first love. She taught me how to love and that it was possible. She taught me about kindness and unconditional love. She taught me about acceptance, courage and bravery.

I’d love to know about your influences coming up in music.

Growing up, my mom was my first musical influence. She is a beautiful piano player. We had a really troubled relationship, but one of my first memories is crawling underneath her piano and just listening to her play and watching her feet on the pedals and hearing the resonance under the piano and feeling connected to her in that way, even though she didn’t know I was there. It was a feeling like the music she made was a truer expression of her than the often very hurtful words or violent things she did. That was my first sense of understanding the depth of music, that it goes beyond language.

My grandmother taught me lots of very violent, creepy lullabies from Scotland. She knew a lot of old murder ballads and child ballads and she sang me all of those songs. I loved them. That oral distillation of archetypal stories over generations and time, generally very matrilineal and passed down from mother to daughter, I connected deeply with those songs. That was my first sense of the hidden archive of the world.

My adoptive father was very repressive about what we were allowed to listen to. If it wasn’t Baroque or Classical or maybe Romantic, we would get in trouble for listening to modern music. One of the sort of transgressive things that my mom and I sometimes did was listen to Joni Mitchell or Stevie Wonder together. I have such distinct memories of holding the Ladies of the Canyon album and poring over it and reading the back and seeing Joni’s art. That was very formative music for me.

With Tracy Chapman, I was 9 the first time I heard her. I was on a trip with my uncle and I remember hearing “Behind the Wall” and just bawling because we were the family behind the wall. We were the family where there was violence and abuse and the police were constantly being called. To hear someone writing this and have this sense of recognition that this happens to other people and I’m not alone in the world and hearing her voice and her writing and poetry made me feel I wasn’t alone.

And when I left home at 15, my sonic world exploded. There were all these endless possibilities. I’m a huge Staples Singers fan. John Prine, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal (particularly Giant Step/De Old Folks at Home). And Mulatu Astatke, who I’ve been obsessively listening to over the pandemic. His music is expanding my understanding of melody and structure. It is ongoing. The influences never stop and I’m influenced by my brilliant peers as well.

Has your daughter listened to these songs with you? What do you want her to learn about you from the music?

She has listened to it. One of the hard things has been having to talk about abuse with my child. I think it is incredibly important. I think that by the time we start to do that in schools, it is often much too late for the children, including me. I’ll never forget in Grade 4, hearing the song, “My body’s nobody’s body but mine,” and for me that had not been my reality since I was 3. What I want her to know is that we are strong enough to live through hard things and come out the other side of it. I want her to know that she is strong enough, in whatever struggles she faces.

I want her to know that her stories are worth telling and her experiences are of value. She is an infinitely strong being and she is part of a whole long lineage of strong women. I want her to know that. And that she is loved so much and a huge part of why I strive to do anything or be any kind of good ancestor is because of her.

(Editor’s Note: Read part two of our Artist of the Month interview here.)


Photo credit: Marc Baptiste (top); Laura E. Partain (in story)

LISTEN: Shannon McNally, “This Time”

Artist: Shannon McNally
Hometown: Long Island, New York
Song: “This Time”
Album: The Waylon Sessions
Release Date: May 28, 2021
Label: Compass Records

In Their Words: “‘This Time’ was written by Waylon. He didn’t write all of his songs. In fact, he probably didn’t write most of them, but the ones he did write were his best. I believe he was talking about a personal relationship with a lover, but as I sing it, I think of it as my relationship to the music business and my personal struggles with it as a woman and an artist. I particularly love the Wurlitzer intro and how the kick drum and acoustic guitar come in sounding like a sunny day. All of Waylon’s grooves remind me of horse gaits. This one is a full canter and the harmonica is the river running beside it. This song is the high point or key to me getting into the headspace that permits me to sing the rest of the album. For me there is relief in its directness. It’s my favorite song on the album.” — Shannon McNally


Photo credit: Alysse Gafkjen

LISTEN: Tim O’Brien, “I Breathe In”

Artist: Tim O’Brien
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “I Breathe In” ft. Mike Bub (bass), Shad Cobb (fiddle), and Jan Fabricius (harmony vocal)
Album: He Walked On
Release Date: June 25, 2021
Label: Howdy Skies!

In Their Words: “The project is about what you need to do to survive in America. We all need a roof over our head and something to eat, of course, but we also need love. I’ve been grateful to have Jan beside me during the pandemic. The song stresses the need to take things one step or one breath at a time, and to keep those you love close as you do so.” — Tim O’Brien


Photo credit: Scott Simontacchi

BGS 5+5: Riley Downing

Artist: Riley Downing
Hometown: Kansas City, MO
Latest album: Start It Over

Which artist has influenced you the most … and how?

It is hard to pick just one artist that has influenced me the most. I am a fan of all kinds of music and genres as well as underdog musicians, current and long since lost in time. It might sound cliché, but if I had to pick one who influenced me the most it’s gonna be Woody Guthrie. If it weren’t for finding Woody Guthrie in high school, I never would have started to appreciate folk, blues, and roots music that made me think the same way that punk rock did at the time. I also never would have ventured out to Okemah, Oklahoma for the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival when I was 18 and met the guys that eventually would form the Deslondes. Woody is an American hero who tried to save the world with a song that gave people hope, morals, an education, a good laugh, and thoughts to chew on to get them through lean times. Woody, as simple as some of his music seems, was much, much more than just a musician. I never stop finding more and more meaning and inspiration from his life’s work. I always loved his copyright law, too. He basically said, warning, if you sing these songs you might just be a friend of mine, which I do and I am.

What’s your favorite memory from being on stage?

I have a lot of good memories of being on stage, whether late at night in a small club or a backyard or opening up for and getting to hear some of my favorite musicians every night. But I will never forget the first time we got to play the New Orleans Jazz Festival. That was kind of an epitome of all the hard work and hard traveling the band had done in the previous years all leading up to that one moment. It felt good to be accepted and supported by the New Orleans music community all those years and finally playing the biggest show you can really get down there. It was a surreal honor and never stopped being or feeling like it.

What was the first moment that you knew you wanted to be a musician?

The first moment I knew I wanted to be a musician was probably when I learned how to finally tune the guitar. Ha ha. I got my first electric when I was 13 and would just smash my fingers all over the strings and thought to myself, this almost sounds like I’m shredding. I thought all strings must have different sounds and tried out different kinds until my cousin finally showed me how to tune the guitar. Then came the power chords and once I was able to put a few together, I knew I needed to write words over them and attempt to sing them even though I didn’t know how to do that either. I did it anyway. Then came the buddies who also wanted to play music as well as different instruments and the realization that this is what we really love to do. I have been hooked ever since and honestly the process of doing that and the joy I get from it hasn’t changed much.

Which elements of nature do you spend the most time with and how do those impact your work?

The elements of nature that I spend the most time in that affect my work are in the rolling hills of Missouri. I love small town life, sitting in the sun fishing all day, or on a back deck BBQing and taking my time driving slow through the backroads that I don’t have to look up GPS, or listening to music or just making up songs and singing a line over and over until I have to stop and write it down. It is true, there is no place like home. I traveled all over the US and world, wide-eyed and wondering where I should end up, but Missouri is home and I always feel a great weight lifted off my shoulders when I’m there. Even when I’m not there I can always write a song that takes me back. I am sad I missed morel mushroom season this year though, but hopefully that means there will be more to find next year.

Since food and music go so well together, what is your dream pairing of a meal and a musician?

Food and music do go hand and hand. If I had to make a pairing it would be a small BBQ festival that all my friends bands could come play at and ‘lightheartedly’ compete for who does it right. My Alabama buddies will tell you it’s all about the white sauce and my North Carolina friends will argue that it’s all about the hot pepper vinegar or Carolina Gold sauce. I grew up with a BBQ squirt bottle in my hand and it’s one of my favorite pastimes and meals. Whenever people ask me where to get the best BBQ in Kansas City I have a hard time answering that question because the answer is at my house. I’m not sure who invented the red sauce but I first had it in South Carolina and pick it up any chance I get. I am loyal to KC, but South Carolina definitely gives us a run for our money. KC is spoiled though with wide variety of BBQ sauces and seasoning selections at grocery/hardware stores. I have almost successfully left or sent a bottle of Head Country, an affordable Oklahoma dry rub, to all of my friends’ houses all over the US so when I visit it’s always within reach.


Photo credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

LISTEN: Sean McConnell, “Price of Love”

Artist: Sean McConnell
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee
Song: “Price of Love”
Album: A Horrible Beautiful Dream
Release Date: August 6, 2021
Label: Soundly Music

In Their Words: “‘Price of Love’ is a direct result of a conversation I had with my mother on the phone one day while was driving on tour. I was missing my wife and little girl back at home. We talked about the price your heart pays for giving itself fully to someone. It’s scary, you know? Scary that something could happen to them. That something will eventually happen to all of us. But yet, most of us decide to risk that. To take the jump. To give up your heart completely. It’s heavy shit.” — Sean McConnell


Photo credit: Alexa King